Introduction
The degree to which technology has become a part of everyday life and everyday business has seen a change in the way management approaches how they manage the finances, the processes and the systems within an organisation.
As technology becomes more widely used within a company and takes a more prominent vital within the critical functions of that company, it is necessary to make sure that an appropriate level of attention is given to this computing.
Technology have come a long way over the past few years and are now seen as vital elements of any company. As such, they are allocated greater budgets but must also be able to manage a larger amount of work.
But once you have spent a large amount of your budget on developing your IT infrastructure and seen the needs of your organisation change, how do you make sure that the systems you are using can keep up with demand? Moreover, how can you achieve this without spending a prohibitive amount of money?
This is the role undertaken by IT management software and systems.
Every business and every environment will have different specifications and will create unique issues. To meet these needs there are a number of different solutions and approaches that can be implemented to help manage the IT network of your company.
Software Asset Management
SAM ( Software Asset Management) is built to do exactly what it says on the tin – monitoring and managing the deployment and usage of software packages within your company. It is a business process rather than a distinct area of expertise and is becoming a more critical part of the modern business environment, particularly for businesses operating in the field of Information Technology. Despite the many benefits of SAM, there are still a great many companies that are not utilising it to its full potential.
SAM is not simply a program for technicians rolling out software across a large corporate network, but can be a crucial tool to help improve performance at many levels of a company. The goals of SAM include managing of the IT infrastructure within a organisation, negating legal threats associated with incorrect software license usage and sustaining high levels of productivity by making sure software is up to date and fit for its purpose.
The practice of software asset management is often viewed as an unnecessary evil due to the abstract nature of what it is designed to deal with, and the financial case for employing a SAM solution is not always obvious until a broad audit of the software infrastructure of a company has been done. Once existing problems have been identified however, the use of SAM becomes self evident.
Financial benefits remain the most motivating business factor when deciding to employ software asset management software within a business. Every business needs to make profit after all and profitability is a very measurable metric. The financial benefits of software asset management do certainly exist however.
An increasingly large percentage of a business’ IT bank roll is spent on software licensing so there is a critical need to invest to correctly monitor this spending. As organisations grow and diversify, their software requirements can change radically and hardware and software can swiftly become out of date. There is no requirement to spend money to maintain the licenses on this outdated software, which is where software asset management really delivers an advantage.
SAM is not restricted to simply the IT department of your organisation either. As a management operation it will often include many of the departments within a organisation, including Finance Human Resources, to ensure that it runs as cost-effectively as possible. It is a process that does not need to follow standard.
Software asset management can easily be achieved within your business through a feasible Centennial Discovery solution that is tailored to your specific needs.
Why follow a SAM Strategy?
Having heard the many advantages of utilising a SAM solution, how do you know that it would be correct for your company? Every business is different and has its own separate set of challenges and benefits, so any strategy you will use needs to be catered to these specific characteristics. The benefits of software asset management do cover the fundamental aspects of software management.
There are more than just financial advantages that can be made through the management of licensing and maintenance agreements across a businesses IT network. Productivity can be vastly by ensuring that employees have the latest editions of software available under current licenses held, and communication within the company is helped when support staff know exactly what is deployed on every workstation under their control. The benefits of software asset management are not confined to the technological hardware of your organisation.
Cost Savings
As discussed before, perhaps the most persuading reason to utilise SAM within your business is the potential cost savings that can be achieved. The profitability of your company is always going to be the bottom line so any strategy that can help to improve this profitability by reducing expenses is one that should be considered.
The most immediate way that SAM can help to lower costs is by identifying any software running on your corporate network that is no longer needed. The software might not be being used any longer, it may be very outdated to be of use or it may be duplicated on your system. software asset management can help to remove this unnecessary overhead.
By clearing these items of software that are no longer a help to the running of your business you are streamlining a large chunk of your IT infrastructure. Paying for unnecessary software licenses and support and maintenance agreements means that more finance can be spent on the essential parts of your IT infrastructure.
Mitigate Risk
A surprising amount of software that is actively used in the corporate environment is either licensed incorrectly or not licensed at all. Running any amount of uncontrolled software on your IT system is not advised, because when left unchecked it can become incredibly unpredictable. This is becoming an increasingly annoying factor for IT managers.
Rogue software applications can be introduced into an unmonitored IT system in a number of ways. Software may have been included when your IT hardware was originally purchased although the original software licenses may have expired. Without the correct security policies in place, users may also be able to load their own software onto the system.
The risk of running unlicensed software on your network is clear. When something goes wrong with the hardware or software platform supporting your vital processes, how do you manage the situation? Running a complicated software system without the correct support can create a metaphorical minefield when it comes to disaster recovery and can seriously limit your responsiveness to unpredictable events.
Many companies have reported increases in efficiency after Centennial consultants worked alongside their current IT support team.
Implementing Software Asset Management in your Organisation
As previously mentioned, there are many potential advantages to employing a good software asset management strategy within your business, both monetary and otherwise. It is vitally important to consider which elements of software asset management you should implement first since certain benefits will be realised more quickly than others. Some may take a period of years to be fully felt.
This discovery process can be seen as three basic areas that have to be performed to really develop an accurate picture of the usage of IT assets within your organisation. These are:
Inventory
Inventory is the most fundamental stage of the discovery process. It is crucial that an accurate inventory of IT assets within your organisation is created to aid your IT department to maintain baselines for your IT system.
Thankfully, this process can now be made automatic and even the grandest of infrastructures can be investigated and analysed in a reasonably short period. Inventory should be able to identify your IT assets regardless of their physical location or computing characteristics. Modern inventory processes are capable of this.
Capture
The next step in the discovery cycle involves the capture of the software license entitlements that concern the software programs identified in the inventory. The capture process should gather entitlements regarding all of the software that exists on your network, even when the software is not currently used.
The factor of human error can be mitigated by using automatic tools that are specifically designed to build a library of license entitlements. Packages that are currently available are incredibly efficient at capturing accurate information. These tools will also maintain databases containing up to date information from software vendors.
Identification & Validation
The third process is to match up the software audit to the repository of licensing information that were built in the last two stages. Errors may have occurred anywhere from the original invoices for software to the most recent audits performed on your IT network.
One crucial factor in the validation stage is the ability to associate the license entitlements on your network to your company’s proof of entitlement. This will be essential if any disputes with software vendors arise as a consequence of the discovery cycle.
Once these three steps have been undertaken you will have created an incredibly rich picture of how your IT network is serving software assets to its users. It will be a lot simpler to identify particular trouble spots on your system, or sections of software usage that are no longer of any practical benefit to your activites. This detailed picture can be used for future reference as well.
You can now start a period of reconciliation upon your system. You can compare the software packages that are actually installed on your network against the licensing and support contracts that you are paying for and bridge any divides between the two.
The software distribution in your system may include many hundreds or perhaps thousands of individual instances, and there are any number of restrictions that may be associated with the licensing agreements you have in place. It is therefore essential to automate the reconciliation stage, utilising one or more tools to apply smart rules to the process.
As demand for software asset management technology grows, the chance a well known Centennial reseller has to grow their client base should be taken.
Compliancy and Flexibility with Software Asset Management
Many of the basic principles of a successful software asset management strategy are based upon the principles set out in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, or ITIL. This library details a number of principles and best practices that should be adopted for successful management of IT operations.
This library is a dynamic publication and is often updated with new concepts and policies that cater to the constantly changing IT backdrop of modern business. A good SAM strategy should be fluid enough to comply with the guidelines laid out in the ITIL whilst matching the changing needs of the business within which it is actively used. This is an essential requirement of successful software asset management
The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has published a standard that applies specifically to software asset management practices. This standard, ISO 19770-1, is an exceptionally comprehensive set of suggestions that are designed to ensure that SAM is utilised in such a way as to “satisfy corporate governance requirements”.
The ISO standard should certainly be adhered to when planning a software asset management strategy for your own organisation, although the level of detail covered within can quickly become a daunting prospect. It is important to remember that no matter what guidelines you follow when designing a software asset management strategy, whatever you decide to implement must help your business rather than stifle it.
Designing a complete and comprehensive software asset management strategy for your own business may actually never come to fruition. Your strategy must be flexible to change and grow as your business does, and it should allow for modifications to your daily tasks, no matter how trivial or underlying they might be. This really is the key to a worthwhile software asset management strategy.
Conclusion
It is clear to see that as the scope and importance of IT systems within your company grow, so does the requirement for correct and efficient management of these systems. Gone are the days when an IT department was a bonus that would occasionally progress the business. IT systems are now vital to the modern organisation.
As with other parts of any business, a number of different strategies should be considered and used in order to ensure the smooth running of daily activities. software asset management should not be the only tactic used to manage computing assets within your organisation, but rather one of a number of complimentary techniques used to manage the system as a whole.
So if you feel that your company is currently suffering from a lack of structured monitoring and management over its IT infrastructure, or that the possible benefits described in this article could provide a crucial market advantage over your competitors, then it would be worth researching how SAM could be used within your company. There may be no time to spare.